


Trust

by SuperstarMorgan



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Self-Harm, Violence, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 22:52:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13580601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperstarMorgan/pseuds/SuperstarMorgan
Summary: After running away from your abusive father, you find yourself in the dark and all alone. That is, until a strange man approaches you.





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also on my Tumblr if you'd rather read it there: https://madboxwithagirl.tumblr.com/post/170163633999/trust
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of Drinking, Mentions of Abuse, Self Harm, Anxiety Attacks, Angst

His drunken yells were nearly drowned out by the rapid beat of your heart. Your feet slapped against the rough pavement as you ran down the street and away from the man who had tried to hurt you. You didn’t dare look back, terrified of what might be behind you. You knew he couldn’t have caught up to you due to his influenced state, but the fear overpowered any rational thoughts. You just needed to get away as fast as possible.

Your father was drunk. Again. It wasn’t uncommon. You were more than used to having him having too much to drink and getting into such a state, but the violence you could never grow accustomed to. It didn’t happen incredibly often, the violence, but when it did, you tried to hide away as best you could. Sometimes, like on that night, you would run away from your place of residence —you would never call it a home— and wander the streets until morning. Mornings were safe. He was sober. He was better to you. You weren’t as scared. Your father was like Jekyll and Hyde. He was good during the day, but when night found it’s way to him, he changed. He was a monster, a demon that you couldn’t escape.

In his good times, he would go off to work, leaving you to enjoy the hours of safety. That was when you would do it. You knew better than to harm yourself while he was around. If he saw you hurting yourself, saw the scars that littered your body, saw the tears that dripped down your face, he would flip. You wouldn’t dare risk letting him catch you.

But that didn’t matter. He still had seen them, your clothing shifting after he had knocked you into a table, your scars being revealed to him. His face went mad with fury as his alcohol-soddened mind analyzed what he saw. Then he rushed towards you, his hands balled into fists and his eyes full of fire. You got out of the way before he could reach you and you ran towards the door, never looking back.

You ran for as long as you could, never once stopping or slowing down until your lungs begged for more air and your heart overpowered any other noises. You leaned against a building wall as you tried to catch your breath, your closed eyes creating a river of tears. The gasps for air soon turned into sobs. You slid down the wall until you were sitting, the sobs becoming more powerful each second. Your heart hurt, from both the overexertion and the pain of your own father wanting to hurt you.

You didn’t know how long it took for the sobs to calm down into sniffles. All you knew was that you were out in the streets alone in nothing but your nightwear. You suddenly became painfully aware of this, fear setting into your body once again. Being out all alone at night in nothing but pajamas was bad. You couldn’t go back, that much was obvious. You had no other family or friends nearby, and all of the shelters were full by that time. You stood slowly, using the wall as support. You were tired, dehydrated, and scared, but you knew you couldn’t stay there. There had to be somewhere for you to go, and you needed to find it. Fast.

You began to walk down the street, hugging yourself as tight as you possibly could, trying to comfort yourself. Your eyes darted left and right, keeping an eye out for someone who could help you or perhaps a place for you to go. You told yourself you didn’t care who it was who would help you, as long as it was someone. You wanted to believe that you could trust others and that you could get into a better situation. But then you started realizing that couldn’t happen. What if the person you found knew your father and took you home to him? What if the person you found had bad intentions and wanted to hurt you further? What if they took you in and helped you, but wanted nothing to do with you after seeing your scars? What if the person was a man?

More and more scenarios rattled around in your brain, each one worse than the next. You began to breathe faster, your heart rate rising once again as your steps quickened. You were no longer sure if you wanted anyone to find you, but you didn’t want to be all alone on the streets. Your nails dug into your arms as you tried to hold yourself tighter, but you didn’t feel the pain. All you knew was that you were scared and unsure of what to do. You lost yourself in your mind, trying to come up with a solution. You were so deep inside your head that you didn’t see the man coming out of a blue police box. You didn’t see the look of concern as you paced by, a look of distraught on your own face. You didn’t even notice that he was wearing Converse with a suit. What you did notice was his voice calling you out of your trance.

“Excuse me!” the man yelled out, running towards you. You were in such shock and confusion from being forced out of your mind that you just stood there motionless as he approached. “Hello, hi, yes, excuse me. I couldn’t help but wonder if you needed help? You’re kind of walking around the streets in nothing but your jammies. Quite an odd fashion choice, don’t ya think?” The man looked concerned for your wellbeing, his brows furrowed and his soft eyes looking over you. Something clicked in the back of your mind as he looked over your body. Man. He was a man. Men were bad. Men would hurt you. Avoid men. He watched as your facial expression changed from confusion to fear and you took an instinctive step back, preparing to run if he tried anything.

You opened your mouth to yell at him to get away, to leave you alone, but no words would come out. Your breathing hitched and your blood ran cold. You had to run. There was nothing else you could do. You spun around and began to run again, trying to get away from this strange man. Your heart stopped when you heard his voice calling out to you and his running footsteps behind you. Every possible bad scenario found its way back into your head. He was going to hurt you. He was going to catch you and hurt you and you could do nothing about it.

You tried as hard as you possibly could to get away, but his footsteps were coming closer and you were slowing down, still worn out from your last escape. Finally, you slowed to a stop and fell to the ground, breathless, knowing that it was all over. You closed your eyes and tried to hide away in your mind, hoping to avoid the pain you knew was soon to come. Instead, you felt two gentle but firm hands lifting you into a sitting position.

“Alright, c’mon now. Breathe with me, alright? Deep breaths now. In…and out. In…and out.” His voice was so soft and soothing that you couldn’t help but listen to his instructions. You began to breathe deeply with him as best as you could, letting your breathing and heart rate return to normal. “There ya go. Good job. Keep on breathing. It’s alright. You’re safe. I won’t hurt you, alright?” He sounded so sincere as he continued to praise you and reassure that you were safe. “C’mon now, open your eyes. It’s alright. It’s safe. There’s nothing to fear.” Again, you felt the urge to follow his instructions as you slowly opened your eyes to see the man kneeling in front of you.

“There we go. That’s better. Are you alright now?” he asked softly, looking you in the eye. You nodded slowly, your heart still beating faster than normal, but you were alright. Your eyes couldn’t see much in the dark, but the moonlight showed enough of his face for you to know that he seemed genuine. He looked more concerned than before, now worried about you for more reasons.

“Now, I know that it is a wee bit concerning when a random man comes up to you in the middle of the night, but I’m not that scary looking, am I?” He tried to cheer you up, hoping that you’d be more willing to talk to him if he could make you more comfortable. Your hands balled into fists and you avoided eye contact with him after his question. Your father wasn’t a scary looking man, but he was the person who terrified you the most. Looks were deceiving. Anybody could hurt you. But, you reasoned, this man doesn’t seem like he wanted to hurt you. He had made sure that you were okay and breathing properly, and he had seemed to show concern for you the first time he confronted you. But, then again, he had chased after you…to make sure you were okay. You took a deep breath and prepared yourself for what was to come.

“You…you look fine,” you replied softly, still not looking him in the eye. You closed your eyes, trying to keep calm as you prepared to continue. “I’ve…had a bad night. Nothing to concern yourself over.” You opened your eyes and looked up at the man with a small smile, trying to convince him that everything was alright. He didn’t seem to buy it.

“Yes, well, that doesn’t quite explain why you’re roaming around with nightwear on.” His left eyebrow was raised in question, hoping that you would continue speaking. That didn’t seem to be the case. Sighing, the man stood up and offered his hand to you. You stared at it for a moment before slowly reaching out and grabbing it. He pulled you into a standing position and made sure you were steady before looking towards the way you came from then back at you. “It’s unsafe to be walking out here all alone. I can bring you somewhere where you’ll be out of harm’s way. Do you trust me?” You knew he was right. Before he showed up, you had been all on your own with no way to protect yourself. The thought of following him was terrifying, but being by yourself was even more so. Plus, he had yet to give you a reason not to trust him.

Giving him a slight nod, you decided to take a chance and go with him. When he saw the movement, a massive grin found it’s way onto his face and he yelled out a “Brilliant!” before turning heel and walking back down the street. Startled slightly, it took you a moment to regain your groundings before jogging after him. The grin never left his face as you walked, and you couldn’t help but sneak glances at it. It wasn’t menacing. In fact, it was rather warm and comforting. You found yourself entranced by his large smile and even managed to find a small one of your own. This was the first time in a long while that someone had taken an interest in you and didn’t seem like they wanted anything out of you. He only seemed to have your best interests in mind, and it made you feel safer than you had been in ages. You started to become so lost in thought that you almost continued walking forward after he had stopped his own stride. You stopped and looked around, trying to figure out why he had stopped.

“Here we are!” he announced, his hands in his pockets and that wide grin still on his face. You looked at him in confusion, trying to figure out where “here” was. The only thing you saw was an out of place blue police box. You glanced back at him, hoping that he would explain further. He just rocked back and forth on his feet with that stupid grin on his face. You narrowed your eyes slightly.

“What exactly is ‘here?’ All I see is this box.” Laughing, the man walked up to the doors of the box while pulling a key out of his pocket. Placing the key in the lock, he glanced back over to you, a new gleam in his eye.

“The box is here!” he exclaimed before turning the key, opening the door, and walking inside. You stood and stared at the strange scene in front of you for a moment before he poked his head back out. “Well? Aren’t you coming inside?” This man had to be insane. He expected you to go inside that tiny box with him? You knew that you should have run away right then and there and tried to find someone else to help you. Before you could do anything, he popped his head back inside the box. It was your chance! You could run and get away before he noticed you were gone. You turned to leave, but curiosity got the better of you. What was in that box? Gritting your teeth and wrapping your arms back around yourself, you approached the doors slowly. When you finally got close enough and stepped inside, you froze.

There, in that teeny-tiny police box, was what appeared to be a large, golden-yellow colored room. Strange, branch-like shapes were coming out of the metal floor and the walls were covered in hexagonal indents. In the middle of the room was what looked like a console. The man was running around said console, pushing buttons and pulling levers. The door closed behind you, making a quiet sound. He stopped at the noise and looked up, seeing you frozen in the doorway, your eyes wide. That wild grin was back on his lips as he made his way over to you.

“Welcome to my TARDIS!” Your eyes stopped exploring the impossible room and found their way onto the man. He looked at you as if he was waiting for you to say something. You tried to form words, but you were in such shock and awe that you simply couldn’t. The man decided to keep on talking instead. “There’s a closet and kitchen through there,” he pointed to a doorway, “where you can go and put on real clothing and get yourself some water. You’re fairly dehydrated and we can’t have that, now can we?” He spoke as if all of this was normal, as if having a massive…whatever this thing was hidden inside of a little box was nothing out of the ordinary. The man laughed at your shocked expression. Coming out of your trance, you tried to piece things together as best as you could.

“The outside. It’s…smaller than the inside.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And…there’s a control area over there.”

“Uh-huh!”

“So…it’s some sort of ship?”

“Yep!” He added a pop! to the end of the word. He was obviously enjoying this. “The TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, by the way, is a spaceship! Not only that, but she can take me anywhere in time that I want to go!” He ran back to the console and began pushing buttons and pulling levers again. “Tell me, where is someplace that you’ve always wanted to go? I can take you there. Right now! Well, after you get yourself some water and something other than pajamas on, that is.” You slowly drifted over to where he was, looking at all of the intricate-looking controls on the console. He glanced over at you, seeing that you were still trying to take everything in. Then, all at once, it hit you.

“You’re an alien.” It wasn’t a question. You knew he wasn’t human. This man was an alien. An alien had come to take you away from Earth. You should have been scared out of your wits at this revelation, but you found yourself strangely alright with the situation, which surprised you. Most others would have been terrified if an alien brought them onto their spaceship, but this wasn’t an ordinary alien, you figured. He looked like a human and not a small, green creature with antenna. In the new light, you could see that he was wearing a brown, pinstripe suit…with Converse. Yeah, he was definitely an alien. No human would wear something like that, you were certain. Moving on from his odd fashion style, you examined his face. His hair was wild and spiked as if he had gotten out of bed and hadn’t brushed it. His eyes shined golden-brown in the yellow light. You noticed that he had tiny freckles on his face, right on the tops of his cheeks. You had to admit, he was a good looking alien.

“Alien to you, perhaps, but you’re alien to me! I’m a Time Lord, I’m from the planet Gallifrey, and I’m the Doctor!” He stood in front of you and held out his hand for you to shake. Polite, you noted.

“Just the Doctor?” you asked as you shook his hand. “That’s a very simple name for an alien,” you pointed out. He looked slightly offended that you continued to call him an alien, but he decided to move on as he dropped your hand.

“Well, it’s just a nickname. Can’t let you know my real name. Y’know, universe would be in danger and all,” he explained, as if it was obvious information. “Anyway,” he said, looking over your features as you had done with him, “what should I call you?” You told him your name, watching his eyes roam your face.

“The universe won’t be in danger if you know my name, right?” you asked, chuckling softly. The Doctor raised his eyebrow and smirked at you.

“Now, isn’t that something you ask before saying your name?” Your cheeks reddened and you looked away, slightly embarrassed from his question. Shaking his head and smiling, he grabbed your hand and started walking. “Now, let’s get you into something better for traveling! Ah! Right! You never told me where you wanted to go! I can take you to Ancient Egypt, The Medusa Cascade, anywhere! Well, not Raxacoricofallapatorius. Not exactly keen on visiting there.” You went along with him as he dragged you down the hallway, listening to him ramble on about places you knew of and places you had never heard of before. You noted that he was quite chatty. Suddenly, he stopped.

“Right, you need water. Me with my superior Time Lord brain and memory and I forgot that you were dehydrated.” You glared slightly at him, striking your previous note of him being polite. He began walking again and dragging you along. “Sorry, so sorry. The kitchen should be around here somewhere. We’ll get you something to drink in just a moment.” Finally, a door appeared at the end of the hallway. Going through it, you found yourselves in the kitchen. Pulling a chair out from a table, he forced you to sit down before finding a cup and filling it up with water. Coming back over to you, he handed you the cup.

“Drink slowly now. I know you must be thirsty, but if you drink too fast you’ll be in worse shape.” You nodded before lifting the cup to your mouth, taking slow, small sips. You didn’t realize how thirsty you really were until you had tasted the cool drink. You continued your slow sips until you had your fill and placed the cup on the table. You then looked up at the Doctor, his face now laced with concern. You opened your mouth to ask what was wrong, but before you could, he said your name in a soft and sad tone.

“Your sleeve slipped down when you took a drink,” he stated. Your blood ran cold and your body stiffened. You knew right away what had happened. He had seen some of your scars. You wanted to run. You wanted to get away from him before he had the chance to kick you out of his magical box and leave you on your own again. He wouldn’t want to keep you around. Not a broken person like you. Your eyes began to sting as tears forced their way into your eyes, your lungs trying desperately to bring air into them but failing. You let out a squeak as the tears began to fall and you started to cry. You faintly heard the Doctor calling out your name before you felt his hands on your shoulders again, just like before.

“Breathe with me.” For the second time that night, he helped you calm down. He wiped your tears away as they fell, doing what he could to make you feel safe and secure. Slowly, your tears stopped falling and your breathing went back to normal. You avoided looking at him, ashamed. His hand grabbed your chin gently and he made you look up at him. His soft, brown eyes were full of sadness as he looked into your now bloodshot eyes.

“I don’t know what could have caused you to do such a thing to yourself. Perhaps it was the same thing that caused you to be out on your own tonight. I don’t know. But I want you to listen to me. This,” he let go of your chin and gently held your wrist, “isn’t going to last forever. I can’t tell you when it will stop hurting, but one day it will. One day you’ll wake up and decide that that’s the day you’ll stop. You’re going to do amazing, brilliant things. I can tell. I’m always right about these things, you know.” Fresh tears welled up as you listened to his speech. You threw your arms around him and held him tightly, crying happy tears. You believed his words. He had yet to break your trust, and you doubted that he was ever going to. Yes, it was going to take a while, but, with his words, you knew that a day would come where you would never harm yourself again.

“T-thank you, Doctor,” you cried, holding onto him tighter. He held onto you just as tightly, rubbing your back to calm you down again.

“You’re welcome. I want you to know that whenever you are ready to tell me about what caused this, I’ll be right here to listen. I may tend to ramble on, but I can always stop and listen when someone needs me to, alright? Now, c’mon. You’ve gone and used up all the water that you drank. Let’s get you some more, and then we’ll go off to find you some real clothing, yes?” He pulled away and gave you that stupid grin that you already had grown to love.

“Actually…” you said, staring at the cup on the table. The Doctor’s face fell, fearing that you didn’t want to travel with him after all and that you wanted to leave the ship. “I’m really tired. Is there a place here where I can sleep?” The Doctor let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, relieved that you weren’t going away.

“Right, yes, of course. Of course there’s a place for you to sleep! You didn’t think this big ‘ole ship didn’t have bedrooms, did ya?” He laughed and grabbed the cup, going to get you another drink. “We’ll get you all nice and settled and then tomorrow, I’ll take you wherever you’d like to go. How do you feel about New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York?” You laughed at his enthusiasm as you dried your tears. You didn’t know how long it would take for you to get past the pain and trauma of life with your father. It could take months, it could take years, but you knew that with the Doctor, you’d be alright. For the first time in years, you felt safe. The Doctor would always be there to protect you. And that’s how it would always be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Any and all feedback is highly appreciated!


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